Russian state-owned enterprises have sharply increased their reliance on old-fashioned landline telephones as nationwide mobile internet shutdowns disrupt communications. Procurement data cited by the business daily Vedomosti show spending on fixed-line handsets reached 118 million roubles (€1.26 million) between January and August, more than triple the amount in the same period of 2025. The number of purchase tenders rose by 12.5%.
The surge is concentrated in Russia's largest business and infrastructure hubs, including Moscow and St Petersburg. Market participants told Vedomosti that the shift is driven by the restrictions, a move by ministries and companies to domestically produced software-based PBX systems after Western vendors withdrew following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and a growing demand for secure communication channels.
From episodic outages to routine blackouts
Russia began systematically shutting down mobile internet access in May 2025, when services went offline in more than 40 regions ahead of Victory Day celebrations. What started as occasional disruptions quickly became routine. An independent monitoring project recorded 655 mobile internet outages in June 2025, rising to 2,099 in July—a figure that exceeded the worldwide total for the entire previous year, according to analysts.
The outages have hit banking, taxi services, food delivery, and navigation, particularly in rural areas. The authorities justify the shutdowns as a defence against Ukrainian drones, which they claim are guided via mobile internet signals. However, experts dispute this, noting that drones can fly preset routes without a network connection, and that the shutdowns have reached regions far from the front line.
In March, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted that the presidential administration “uses landline telephones” when asked how restrictions in central Moscow affect the president's office. Shortly after, the head of state telecoms company Rostelecom, Mikhail Oseyevsky, urged Russians to return to fixed lines. “Like a fire extinguisher, there should be one in every home,” he said.
Russia has approximately 12.2 landline telephones per 100 residents. In Moscow, around 2 million households use fixed lines provided by MGTS, the city's main telephone operator. Across the country, there are about 17.4 million urban household landline connections. The Ministry of Economic Development forecasts that the number of all landlines will fall to between 8.2 and 8.5 per 100 residents by 2029, suggesting that the current revival may be temporary.
The renewed reliance on landlines is a striking reversal for a country that had been rapidly modernising its telecommunications infrastructure. It also highlights the broader impact of Russia's digital isolation, which has squeezed social spending and diverted resources to defence. The outages have also raised concerns among European security officials, who see them as part of a wider pattern of hybrid attacks across Europe.
For ordinary Russians, the return to landlines is not just a matter of convenience but of necessity. In rural areas, where mobile internet is already patchy, the shutdowns have made it nearly impossible to access essential services. The government's push for fixed lines is seen by some as an admission that its digital infrastructure is fragile, and that the state is willing to sacrifice connectivity for security.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin's own reliance on landlines underscores the extent of the disruption. As Peskov's comments suggest, even the presidential administration is not immune to the effects of the shutdowns. The move has also prompted comparisons to the Soviet era, when landlines were the only means of communication. For now, it seems, Russia is taking a step back in time.
